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"Witchcraft" follows an English family who unearth the grave of a witch who was buried alive three centuries ago. As is par for the course, hell breaks loose, and the witch, who has apparently survived the centuries in her stone tomb, enacts vengeance on the family bloodline who imprisoned her.
I had never heard of "Witchcraft" and happened to catch it on late-night television by chance; it's not a particularly well-known film and seems to have been recorded in the footnotes of horror cinema, which is a bit of a shame because it's actually on par with (and actually better than) many of its peers. Cinematographically, there is gorgeous use of shadow and haunting long-shots that are reminiscent of Jack Clayton's "The Innocents." Candles flicker, women roam the darkness in nightgowns, and bats flap their wings. Car crashes occur at the whim of the witch's will. So it's not particularly original—but so what? It's remarkably atmospheric, and that's worth enough.
Lon Chaney Jr. plays a sinister descendant of the witch, while Yvette Rees rivals even Barbara Steele as the ice-cold Vanessa Whitlock, the titular witch. There are numerous haunting shots of Rees throughout, including a chilling appearance at the top of a staircase just before she cruelly attempts to claim a victim. The film runs at just under an hour and twenty minutes, and as predictable as the buildup is, the finale is playful and non-stop engrossing.
Overall, "Witchcraft" is an admirable effort, exquisitely filmed and punctuated by a handful of chilling moments. As a supernatural horror film, it delivers in terms o f both plot and style. It's familiar material and was so even in its time, but the fact remains that it's done well, and it's damned fun to boot. If black masses in black and white suit your tastes, give this one a go. 8/10.
score 8/10
drownnnsoda 14 October 2017
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3830964/ |
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3-3-2021 04:54:17